Strings & Samples & some Progress

Finally, I'm able to show you some more of my quilts that I finished for the quilt show that happened a month ago.  Where does the time fly off to?  This year is going way too fast.  It's been so busy around here that I haven't had time to blog or even do much sewing.

I'm staying home today rather than going to my guild's workshop this afternoon because I've had a sinus infection and unrelenting headache for 10 days now.  I've been to the Dr. twice, started a second antibiotic since the 1st one did nothing for me, and am starting to feel a little better now.  I missed my Modern Quilt Guild meeting last night too.  I'm kind of pouting about that.  But since I'm the hostess for 12 family members for Turkey Day next week, I thought it would be a good thing to feel better by then.

Batik Strings
25" x 30"

I started this quilt in a Liberated Strings class with Gwen Marston this past spring, which means I got this finished in less than a year!  Yay me! That doesn't seem to happen often around here. I'm calling it Batik Strings for lack of a more inspired name. 

I made this quilt with yardage cut into strips instead of using strings, and it was made without a foundation, doing what Gwen calls Block Base construction.  It's explained in her books.  That was a new technique to me for sewing strings.

A detail shot so you can see some of the fabrics I used.  I quilted this one myself.  I just free-handed straight lines, no marking.  I did use painter's tape for the initial line down the approximate center of the block, but no other markings.  I'm pleased with how this came out.  

This is my downstairs half-bath where the quilt lives now.  I made it to fit into this space, both size-wise and color-wise.  Unfortunately I can see now that the quilt isn't too flat.  I think the quilting kind of warped it, so I'll have to fix that soon.

The assemblage hanging on the wall on the left is a collaboration piece.  I made the ceramic tile, which I felt was less-than-successful, but then my sister took it and incorporated it into one of her assemblages.  I think it looks good now.  *grin*  And I'm really pleased to have a collaboration piece done with my sister!

Magic Triangle Sample
22" x 22"

I was trying to get more quilts done for the quilt show and thought this one wouldn't take too long to finish, so I finished up this older UFO that's been waiting it's turn for about 15 years.

When I went to sandwich this top with the backing and batting, I found I had to take off the outer borders and redo them.  They were 'waving in the wind', so I had to get accurate with them.  I've learned that sewing a border on and then whacking off the excess fabric rarely makes a nice flat border and that it pays to take a little more time with them.

Here's a detail shot of the center.  I used the Magic Triangle template (see below) that I bought at a quilt show.  I was so excited to try this template that I came home and immediately made this.  I made the smallest blocks that the template would make (2 inches) because I was using some fat 1/8th's I had of reproduction fabrics.  There was no actual plan involved in the construction of this top (that I remember) so I'm pleased it turned out so well.  This isn't my style any more, but I do appreciate a finished quilt!

A detail shot of the corner.  You can see a little of my quilting in this, and also that I used the binding with a flange, which I've learned to love.  I think that little bit of red really pops!  I had to piece the leftover bits of red to have enough length for the flange, so that's scrappy too.

One 2 inch block

I believe this design is also called Mary's Triangle, or Shaded 4-Patch.

Here is the template that I purchased at a quilt show about 15 (or more) years ago.  This doesn't seem to be available anymore, but I did find some other useful links.  This technique was developed by Sally Schneider in her book Scrapmania that you can find on Amazon here.  You can also find a tool from Sally on her website. (scroll about 1/2 way down the page).  There are also instructions on how to make this block without a spiffy template on Sew Fresh Quilts blog.  If you Google 'Mary's Triangle quilts', there are many, many images of all the different ways you can set this block together to make great quilts!  Some day I want to do this pattern/technique again!

I haven't decided what project I want to focus on first, so I pulled out my Scrappy Trips project that I'm doing with all my dots fabrics.  I've got 20 blocks done now.  Still have about 50 blocks to do to make a quilt that fits our queen-sized bed.  Kind of an intimidating thought!  So, this is obviously going to be a longer-term project that I will work on as I'm inspired to.

We got our first snowfall last weekend!  We only got about an inch total, and most of it was melted by the time I got this photo.  We've had some wild weather the last few weeks.  Tuesday we had a huge wind storm and rain storm.  We lost power for about 3 hours.  Now there are fir boughs all over the deck and back yard, but luckily no other damage to us.  We're supposed to get down into the 20's tonight.  Yikes!  Cold!

I hope all of my U.S. readers have a wonderful Thanksgiving Day.  I know I'm thankful for all we have, including a loving family.  Wishing you and yours a happy holiday!

What's Up

I've been busy around here. November is a crazy month for us here.  There are 3 family birthdays in one week - me and both of my kids!  We've had major windstorms and power outages, unseasonably freezing weather (twice in November!) and we also do Turkey Day.  And my dear husband was gone for 2 weeks to China on business, arriving home the day before T-Day.  Whew!

I think I'm finally recovered from hosting Thanksgiving!  We had the whole family here, except for my niece, who's in Vermont.  10 people.  It was crazy but fun, and all the food was soooo good.  Probably too good, if you know what I mean.  But, the house is cleaned up, most of the food is gone/eaten and I'm rested up - now I get to sew!

Here's what I've been working on:

One Big-O block

My first Block Lotto block for the December Lotto drawing.  Easy-peasy and fun.  I made a mistake in measuring a pillowcase and had to cut some off.  This was made from what I cut off.  Now to make 11 more!  Dark background (in this case black) and quilter's choice for the other fabric.

9 Easy X blocks

Here are my blocks I made for the November Block Lotto drawing.  I didn't win. *pout*  But that's OK.  There's always the next month!  These were also easy and fun.  Jewel tones and black.  I always love that combo.

I finally got around to finishing a couple of pillowcases for my youngest son's host "mom" in Spain.  It was taken me an embarassingly long time to get these done.  There was internets research and learning opportunities involved in this process.  It turns out that Spanish bed pillows are quite different from what we have here in the U.S.A.  And they're different sizes depending on the bed they are on too.  And, it also involved translating centimeters to inches.  (Maths)  So I had to guess, especially when I misplaced my measuring tape.  Then when I found it I discovered that there is centimeters on the "other" side!  Which is why I ended up cutting off some fabric - one pillowcase came out way longer that the other one.  Now they're the same.  Not saying they're the right size - but they are consistent.  The host mom really got a kick out of my son's pillowcases he took with him (we both travel with our own pillows and I make all his pillowcases in fun fabrics), so I thought she might like a couple too.  This ended up being much more involved than I ever would have guessed, but I really hope they fit and that she likes them!

B's Scrappy Trips

This past summer, I taught a workshop on Bonnie Hunter's Scrappy Trips pattern to my guild.  They had a lot of fun doing those blocks!  Some of the ladies actually got their quilt finished in time for our quilt show this year.  (not me, though)  So I thought you might like to see how well they did.  I think the quilts came out great!

B's quilt is so bright and cheery!  I love blue and yellow together.

J's Scrappy Trips

J. used a Jelly Roll of Minick and Simpson fabrics.  I love all those rich reds!

M's Scrappy Trips

M. used a jelly roll.  She chose to use black sashing in her quilt.

Right now I'm in the midst of working on a mystery quilt from the year 2000.  I think it may have aged enough by now to get finished.  It's going to be a twin size, and hoo boy, it's taking me a while.  There are about a million units to this one!  No real block, per se, just lots of units to form an over-all design.  Yes, I cheated and looked at the last clue already.  I started running out of fabric and had to substitute, so I wanted to know if that would work.  Fortunately, I started this out doing scrappy so throwing in another couple of fabrics isn't the end of the world.  I'm on Step 4 of 6.  No photos yet.  Soon, hopefully.  Next up is sewing a few thousand flying geese units.  Well, it feels like a few thousand of them!

The cats were playing the other night, and I tried to take a photo of them because they were so cute.  But, the flash didn't come out like I thought it would.  

Cat headlights.  Dunkel has his regular beams on and Shade has his high beams on!  hee hee!

One Done, Three Begun

Done!  
18.5 x 25 inches

I finally got this little preemie quilt quilted and done.  It's now ready to give away.  Yay!  Even a small finish is still a finish.

I did a very simple straight-line quilting job on it, and used some soft, sweet baby flannel on the back. 

#1 Begun

I've gotten more baskets done since I got home from my class with Gwen.  Still have at least another 4 to do, then I need to figure out what I want to do with them.  I'm not sure which part of that will be more fun.  *grin*

As I promised in my last post, here are my goodies I got at the Quilted Strait in Port Gamble.  An 8 inch square frame for some needlework I did, a purple with cats fat quarter (by Laurel Burch), some great labels fabric and some cute fabric to trim kitchen towels with.

Look at the cute selvage on the flower fabric!  It's ladybugs!

Here are two fat quarters that I received from the owner of the Quilted Strait.  These are the new made-in-America solids.  She gave everyone in the class two fat quarters, as she had just gotten the fabrics in stock.  They seem very nice, from what I can tell without undoing the cool folding job.

#2 Begun

A few weeks ago, I taught some of the ladies in my guild how to do Bonnie Hunter's Scrappy Trips pattern.  The class was very successful - everyone got at least one block done and they all looked great!  But, it involved starting a new quilt!  I decided to use some of my polka dot fabrics.  Wow, I had a lot more than I had realized!  So, these were some samples to show the various layouts you can do.  Since I have a LOT of dots, I'm not sure how big this quilt will be.  As big as it needs to be to include as many dots as possible, I guess.  *laughs*

A few weeks ago, I found these blocks.  Can you guess what decade they're from??*  My friends in my very first quilting bee made these blocks for me.  Since I was the baby of the group, most of these ladies have now passed away.  I don't really care much for these colors anymore, but I do care that my friends made these for me.  I decided to keep them and see what I could do with them.  But I think they're kind of boring.  *yawn*

So, I tossed them up on the design wall to see what I could do.

#3 Begun

So, I've made 3 more blocks to bring the count up to 12.  And I tried to incorporate a little more contrast in the blocks I've made.  I know the block in the bottom left is a "humility" block.  I "fixed" that boo-boo THREE times, and it's still wrong, so it's staying!  Even though it bugs me.  Resisting. . . .

Now, I'm trying to decide what I want to do next.  These are 14 inch blocks, so I don't want to add much more size to this.  The Thinking Cap has gone on and I'm cogitating now.  Hopefully something will occur to me soon!   I don't know if it's a good thing or not, but I don't have many fabrics in these dusty blue colors anymore, and I want to up the contrast on the whole thing as well.  I'd like to have this one done for the quilt show in October, so I know I can't dawdle too long.  And I also don't want this to be boring and predictable.  So, that's the challenge I've given myself.  *gulp*  I hope that's not biting off more than I can chew.  I'll be keeping you posted as I hopefully make progress.

* These are the dusty blues from the 1980's.  Waaay out of style and favor!

Blogger's Quilt Festival Fall 2013 - The Halloween Quilt

Time for ghosts and goblins to be out and about in the neighborhood.  Are you ready?

And it's time for the Blogger's Quilt Festival too!  Which one are you more excited about?  In spite of Halloween being my favorite holiday, I'd have to say I'm pretty darn excited about the BQF! 

The Halloween Quilt - Front
69 x 84 inches

Here is my entry into the festival in the Bed Quilt category.  This is The Halloween Quilt, made with lots and lots of Halloween fabrics. Not a very original or catchy name, but it works. 

 I actually finished this quilt last fall, but I've never shown the finished quilt on the blog before.  It is so big that I couldn't find a way to photograph the whole thing.  (the above photo was taken while it was hanging at the county fair this year)  It's been on my bed for the entire month of October, getting me in the proper mood for this fun holiday - one of my favorites!

The pattern I used is Scrappy Trips by Bonnie Hunter over at Quiltville.  I know a lot of people have made Scrappy Trip quilts over the past year - it seemed to be a Big Thing on the quilting blogs!  This is my third quilt done in this pattern since I discovered Quiltville about 8 years ago, and it will probably not be my last!  It's such a fun, easy pattern.

I deviated from the original pattern a little bit by using 3 inch cut strips instead of 2 1/2 inch.  I wanted to really show off the novelty fabrics I was using, and didn't want them cut so small that you couldn't see some of the details. That size strip makes a 15 inch quilt block, which means the quilt is made a little faster. 

But I didn't use only novelty fabrics either.  There are plaids, dots, hand-dyes tone-on-tone and other fabrics.  Whatever looked like it would work.  I had a hard time stopping buying Halloween fabrics!  Mind you, I started with a pretty good stash of Halloween novelties, since it's one of my favorite holidays.  I still have enough for 3 or 4 more quilts!  *grin*

When I was ready to set the blocks together, I laid them out on the living room floor.  My husband and son decided on the zigzag layout, and which block went where.  It was fun to have them help me!

The Halloween Quilt - Back

This quilt decided it wanted to be two-sided.  I added lots of Halloween panels that I've collected over the years.  I can't decide which side I love more - they're both fun.

Here is a picture of the back when I was just getting started on constructing it.  I laid the quilt top down on the living room floor, then started adding the panels and chunks of fabrics on top of it.  I figured that would be the most direct way of knowing when it was big enough. LOL  You can see parts of the blocks on the front peeking through the panels.  I think making the back took me longer than making the front!

I added not just panels, but chunks and pieces of Halloween fabrics, and leftover bits from the front blocks as well.  Nothing went to waste.

Some of the panels I cut up and added bits of fabric around the smaller panels, to make things more interesting.  It was a lot of fun.  Like doing a gigantic jigsaw puzzle.

I didn't have quite enough border fabric, so I pieced flying geese in the corners.  I think it added more interest too, although it's subtle.

My long-arm quilter quilted all kinds of fun things on this quilt, but most of them don't show up well enough for a photo.  She added witches riding brooms, moons, stars etc. and then quilted Halloween words around the border.  Things like "haunted house", "spells", "boo", and so on, all the way around.  It's lots of fun to play I Spy with the quilting!

This is one of my favorite quilts.  I sure was looking forward to using it for the month of October.  I hope you've enjoyed seeing it too!

Follow this link to see my second entry into the Blogger's Quilt Festival, Whisper, in the Scrappy Quilt category.

I hope you'll take some time and cruise around the rest of the BQF and be awed and inspired by all the rest of the quilts!

My Brain Is Rusty

I'm finally feeling much better (antibiotics = good), and have been able to get some sewing done!  Yay!  However, I'm apparently out of practice.  My brain couldn't quite remember what to do. *grin*

Finished blocks, ready to sew together

I decided to "warm up" by working on some more of the Scrappy Trip blocks that I had started sometime last year.  My guild is making lap-sized quilts for nursing homes, and with the addition of a border, this will be the right size - 42 inches square.  I'm using all scraps (except for the black) to make these blocks, from my drawer of already-cut 2.5 inch strips.  I had 6 blocks already finished and only needed 3 more to make the lap-sized quilt.  Easy, right?

Umm, it didn't go quite the way I wanted.  I didn't actually look at the blocks that were already done, so the first block I made I put the black strip in the wrong place.  But the worst of it was that I had the wrong foot on my sewing machine and the seam allowances ended up the wrong size - more like 3/8 inch than 1/4 inch!

OK, figured out the foot thing, adjusted and then made 2 more blocks.  Oops.  More boo-boos.  I didn't realize that the already-done blocks all had a black strip running through the middle.  Totally left out the black.  I wondered why I was short a strip when I was sewing the blocks together!  It wasn't until I decided to lay out all the blocks that I realized my mistake.  I just had to laugh!

Oops!

So, here they are, in all their glory.  The top left block is correct.  The top right and bottom left are pretty blocks, but they don't have the black strip in them.  The bottom right is the one with the wrong seam allowance and the black strip in the wrong place.  The pretty blocks that don't work will be put aside to go into another quilt someday, and the wrong-sized one may go on the back of this charity quilt, just to use it up. 

I lined the small block up with a block of the correct size, and you can really see how it gets worse and worse as you "read" it from left to right.  Yikes!  A perfect example of what a too-big seam allowance will do to your block.

A close-up shot, where you can see the different-sized seam allowance.  (top block vs. bottom block)  I'm sharing this as an educational opportunity.  I know I learned something from this!

So, now all I have to do is sew the blocks together and then find something for the border, and this little lap quilt will be ready for quilting.  I'm thinking green for the border (all the blocks have green in them) and then a black binding.  Hopefully that will go more smoothly.  *fingers crossed*

Saturday I did a "sewing" project with my granddaughters.  We went to Jo-Ann's and bought fleece, and they made started no-sew fleece blankets for themselves.  We did the "2 layers tied together around the edges" method. We didn't actually get them finished, but we got a good start on them, and they can finish them at home.  I didn't get a single photo!  (bad blogger!)  Interestingly, at the store, they didn't hesitate about what fabric they wanted.  They took a look at what was available, and made their decision right away!  They each had to get some extra fabric as they want to make blankets for their stuffed toys.  We didn't have time to work on that and I can't wait to see what they come up with!

We seem to always have good weather in February up here in the Northwest, sunny and maybe even as warm as 50+ degrees.  Lately, it's been pretty darn chilly even though it's sunny.  When we get rain, we get fresh snow on the mountains.  But winter always comes back in March - sometimes we even get measurable snow!  But we're having a little tease of Spring out on the back deck!  My crocus are up and starting to bloom.  In the upper right corner you can see that my tulips and daffodils are starting to come up too.  What a welcome sight!